Children's charity profits hold despite stall change

PUBLISHED: 18:26 18 February 2009 | UPDATED: 13:57 06 May 2010

A CHARITY stall which looked as though it would have a blighted Christmas after being ousted from a prime St Albans city-centre spot still managed to raise £2,300 for needy children. The Herts Advertiser took up the plight of the Save the Children Fund (S

A CHARITY stall which looked as though it would have a blighted Christmas after being ousted from a prime St Albans city-centre spot still managed to raise £2,300 for needy children.

The Herts Advertiser took up the plight of the Save the Children Fund (SCF) stall which traditionally has set up beside Barclays Bank in St Peter's Street for the five weeks before Christmas.

But this year the district council decided not only to change its location to somewhere less prominent - but also said it would be charging SCF for the first time.

At the end of November, the council backed down over charging and offered SCF a new designated charity space close to its previous pitch at no cost.

SCF trading secretary Pam Roome said this week that despite a couple of wet Saturdays, the charity had still managed to raise £2,300 - just short of the £2,500 it normally raises.

She said: "This was slightly less than in previous years but I think this was more to do with the credit crunch and the fact that the large stores opposite had massive sales than the new position of our stall."

With the help of local churches and other organisations, the branch had still managed to send off £2,600 to SCF headquarters.

Pam said plenty of well-wishers had come to the stall and made a donation after reading about the charity's plight in the Herts Advertiser.

Recently we, as a family (minus two of the kids), visited The Lodge RSPB reserve in Sandy, Bedfordshire. I had never been before, which is perhaps amiss of me as a birdwatcher as it is the headquarters of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds or RSPB and only 45 minutes drive from home.